State of the Rift: Vision, Trinkets, and the Sightstone Sidegrades.

Edit: Speak of the Devil: Recharge time lowered to 180 - 90 seconds based on level from 180-120 seconds.

With Preseason getting just about ready to close up, I think its a good time to start discussing the overall shape of Season 6, and just what has been done, and what it means for the future. Today, I'd like to talk about the state of vision, and some of the positives and negatives that the changes this season have caused.

Season 6 leads us off with a bunch of changes to the vision system, most importantly the changes that were made to sightstone and the trinket system. Ideally, there is a place for each item in the game, and this is something that i feel that Riot has really been trying to work towards, but has at least partially missed the mark on here with vision, most particularly in the changes to the trinket system. Now just recently, we saw hits taken to the as it has been probably the most influential change made. With its safe vision and solid duration trade-offs, the Farsight alteration is by far the best change the trinket system pulled off, but at the same time is a big indication of the big issues that the other trinkets are facing. Particularly, we have an issue when it comes to , which currently just doesn't feel like a good item for overall team vision. The issue for the Warding Totem is heavily invested in Riot's goal to reduce vision this year, but as a result has made a situation where the Warding Totem just feels like a gimmick. It has the kinds of things you want, rechargable wards that don't cost a thing and don't take your inventory slot, but the way they've changed its duration, and the removal of Stealth wards from the shop, makes laners critically reliant on and to stay safe. the new GST simply charges too slow in a game that's rapidly sped up this Season, and doesn't have consistent up-time when you need it. A lot of times this season I find myself asking whether its worth it to keep GST, or whether i could get a broader net of safety from Farsight's more consistent wards. If a blue Ward dies, I can get information out of that, but if a Totem ward dies, it likely is because its incredibly short timer is up, and if it gets swept, then I'm still out of a ward for excrutiatingly long time.

Edit: As an aside currently without vision aiding items like Sightstone is actually COMPLETELY unable to allow a champion to max his/her ward contribution. At its max, GST currently scales up to 120s uptime on wards placed, with a 120s recharge time. Because of this, and the Trinket's 2 ward cap, it is Physically impossible to hit 3/3 wards placed without a vision item

And this. Puts far more weight onto the nerfed , and its family tree. Funny enough, Riot originally introduced Sightstone and Warding limits as a way to help supports not to be solely responsible for team vision, or at least to encourage team vision habits, and freee up support income, which at the time was spent largely on income generation and wards. By nerfing GST, in a way supports are now the only class that has consistent wards, unless the jungler is willing to step their smite upgrade out for a . The best thing for vision the team can do its spam wards, since they're both safer, and have the potential to last far longer, on a lower cooldown. Simply put, in order for yout team to maintain solid vision control you either have to rely on the fragile Blue wards, or hope that you'll have those Stealth charges up for the areas you really need them. And that's completely disregarding ; an upgrade i feel is having some issues given the lowered ward counts, and is in my opinion, a fairly punishing thing for classes who don't invest in the SS family tree. As a mid laner, if i Grab the Oracle's alteration, my only POTENTIAL contribution to team gold input, is placing a single pink ward somewhere on the map. I've given up any pro-active vision that i could provide my team for the ability to deny vision. Its a fantastic item, but at this point you force anyone getting it who doesn't have the option to opt in to vision security, NO CHOICE other than a single static ward to assist their team with the valuable information that vision grants.

Branching to further, I've noticed a trend for every time that Riot changes the vision system, which by and large is the buffing of Stealth champions. Stealth is an incredibly powerful tool because it bypasses all but one type of vision, which currently is ONLY OFFERED by the , thanks to the removal of Stealth detection on 's upgrade, and the removal of . This means that in late game, when champions have full inventories, there is NO OPTION for stealth detection outsife of specific abilities, and more than likely having the support keep a slot occupied by Vision wards to counteract powerful stealth assassins like , etc. Everytime True sight gets nerfed, these champions are buffed, and Riot over the years has consistently been buffing their mechanics with the removal of options to fight against them. This isn't to say these champions are always strong, but the changes that nerf true sight ALWAYS benefit them.

Edit: Okay, going through and cleaning this up a little, lower ward numbers on the map aren't entirely bad. Because there is so much less vision on the map, it allows for more risky playmaking, since its a lot harder to keep tabs on the enemy team at all times. Due to this, we're having much faster games, which can both be more interesting and more action packed. Coming off of a growing issue that league had with its games slowly but surely stretching further and further (A trend that made hypercarries especially potent), we get to see early-game champions pop their heads out for a bit, and that brings some fresh air to the battlefield.

Lower ward counts overall, also mean that ward placement is more important too, as you need to maximize what vision you can get, out of the much lower number of wards available. This means strategic warding is more powerful, and by proxy, so is effective sweeping. For as much power as has, it still has the negative tradeoff of being a vulnerable ward, and so poor placement of it can result in what is pretty much a waste of a cooldown. Teams relying to heavily on it, could see their vision of the map swept away in a heartbeat by an enemy just taking a jaunt through their jungle, and that is an interesting decision that your team should be deciding on. Farsight is far better for scouting and planning your steps ahead of time as a result, and adds another strategic niche to the game. So over all, the changes aren't Horrible, but I'd still gander that Riot needs to look further into how team vision works, and either give a proper buff, or make additional vision options available to non-support classes.

Overall, I think we're getting close to a really interesting balance between vision and gameplay, but I think we're just missing the mark due to how inconsistent GST is comparative to its counterparts. With the removal of Stealth wards, this also means that its a nerf to Oracles, and I'd like to see these two trinkets really shine as a strategic pick, rather than be outshined by Farsight for its versatility and safety. I feel we're close, we just need to push GST in the right direction, and Oracles will benefit enough from that to be a power-pick again.

As with any discussion, let me know what you think! How do you like Season 6's vision system? Where do you think its strong or weak, and if you'd do anything, what would you do? Happy Holidays everyone, and hopefully we can drum up some good conversation!